Canada\u2019s rental and retail property segment should brace itself for the heightened demand that will come with the upcoming legalization of recreational cannabis, according to RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust.<\/p>\n
This is especially true for the hottest markets \u2013 especially Ontario, which is expected to host a much increased number of facilities as October approaches.<\/p>\n
The sharp uptick in demand will begin once retailers start \u201clooking to stake a claim at the best locations, many of which we own,\u201d RioCan CEO Edward Sonshine said last week, as quoted by Bloomberg.<\/p>\n
Ontario remains the leading choice among Canadian cannabis producers and sellers. Pot companies said that they would proceed with setting up shop once the provincial government allows private sales of the herb.<\/p>\n
Read more: <\/p>\n
Currently, Ontario\u2019s set-up mandates that sales are to be conducted by government agencies such as the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no question that whatever rules finally come down, they\u2019re not going to want four cannabis stores at one corner \u2014 there\u2019s going to be some control over that,\u201d Sonshine stated.<\/p>\n
Edward Jones & Co. analyst Matt Kopsky noted that legalization and the ensuing mad rush for space represent a golden opportunity for firms that have access to large expanses of commercial real estate, such as RioCan.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously it\u2019s a growing segment within the retail market, and I\u2019m here in Colorado and there\u2019s stores all over the state,\u201d Kopsky explained. \u201cWith retail struggling, it\u2019s good to have any sort of growth opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Legalized marijuana can drive demand for as much as 200,000 square feet (19,000 square metres) of retail space, RioCan estimated.<\/p>\n
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Related stories:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Canada\u2019s rental and retail property segment should brace itself for the heightened demand that will come with the upcoming legalization of recreational cannabis, according to RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust. This is especially true for the hottest markets \u2013 especially Ontario, which is expected to host a much increased number of facilities as October approaches. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":20326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7950"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21323,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7950\/revisions\/21323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}